Alan Jones, an Australian racing icon and the 1980 Formula 1 world champion, has died after a brief illness. He had just turned 80 years old.
Jones took a long route from Australia to Formula 1, moving to Europe first in 1967 and working through a variety of odd series before debuting in a privately-owned Hesketh in 1975. He then ran in stints for Graham Hill and John Surtees before joining Shadow, one of the strangest teams in F1 history. He would win the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix for the team, his first victory and what would be the only win the team ever claimed in F1. Jones finished the season in seventh, and suddenly became a major player in the series.
In 1978, he joined a recently re-formed Williams Grand Prix Engineering. This was the second F1 team run by Frank Williams, one that was not yet a powerhouse. Williams became a force to be reckoned with quickly after Jones joined, allowing the Australian driver to establish himself as a player in F1 with four wins in the 1979 season. That number ballooned to five in 1980, earning him the title by 13 points over future Williams champion Nelson Piquet. He also guided the team to its first constructor’s title.
Jones missed out on the 1981 driver’s title, but he and teammate Carlos Reutemann guided the Williams operation to its second of what has since become nine constructor’s championships. He retired after that year, although he would occasionally show up on the grid in parts of three more seasons.
In the decades that followed, Jones became a mainstay in the Australian touring car championship that evolved into what we now know as Supercars. He won five races in a career that stretched until 2002, entering the Bathurst 1000 19 times. Jones never won that race, nor did he win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his two starts in that event, but he remained a presence in auto racing for decades.
Australia’s Nine reports that Jones received a cancer diagnosis “only weeks ago.” He is survived by his wife and four children.
Fred Smith's love of cars comes from his fascination with auto racing. Unfortunately, that passion led him to daily drive a high-mileage, first-year Porsche Panamera. He is still thinking about the last lap of the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
